America’s Original Sin: Slavery Never Ended, It Just Evolved

Author Jim Wallis dissects racism, White privilege, and helps us build a bridge to a new America.

Sometimes, it seems that African-Americans are the only people willing to talk about race in an effort to improve relations and social justice.

Author and Christian activist Jim Wallis joined Roland Martin on NewsOne Now to discuss his new book, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege and the Bridge to a New America.

Wallis told Martin that original sin is not just slavery, but the “deliberate dehumanizing and debasing” of African-Americans and the attitude that “Black lives and bodies don’t matter.”

Wallis added, “That was one of our founding principles as a nation, that Black lives and Black bodies don’t matter; you see that in all our headlines today. This original sin lingers on, that’s why we got to call it sin and talk about repentance from sin.”

Wallis also explained that, “slavery never ended, it just evolved,” saying that “mass incarceration is the current evolution of slavery.” He also noted that the “deliberate disenfranchisement” of prisoners, gerrymandering, and other forms of voter suppression are tactics used to keep certain “demographics from changing America.”

Watch Roland Martin, Jim Wallis, and the NewsOne Now panel discuss Wallis’ book in the video clip above. Then watch their extended conversation in the video clip below.